Conversations surrounding ivory typically involve poaching, conservation efforts, and fears over the extinction of elephants due to demand for the mammoth animal’s tusks. However, thanks to work being done by Thaddaa Rath at TU Wien university in Vienna, Austria, there’s a new ivory-inspired debate.
While the current situation with ivory stimulates negative connotations, early use of the material came from its’ uniquely durable, yet workable composition. Its aesthetics — pure white with streaks of black — also make it a natural rarity. Selling ivory was globally banned in 1989, but poachers are still able to get upwards of $1,500 for a single pound of the uniquely strong and beautiful material.
This is why Rath is looking to develop what she described to Digital Trends as an “ivory-inspired material” that could be 3D-printed. Dubbed Digory, or digital ivory, the synthetic resin uses calcium phosphate and hot-liquid processing to create a substance that is then hardened for use with a 3D printer.
With aesthetics and malleability similar to the real thing, Digory can be manipulated to resemble the look and feel of ivory. The hope is that this new material could be used in both re-creating objects originally made of ivory that have been damaged, as well as a viable replacement for it going forward.
And while this would seem to be a clear-cut solution to illegal ivory use, human beings are involved, so of course it’s not that simple.
International laws allow for the buying and selling of objects containing less than 10% real ivory, provided they were produced prior to 1947. Additionally, objects that are over 100 years old or deemed culturally important, are also exempt from these laws.
So, if you’re a collector looking to purchase or repair an ivory antique, how do you feel about Digory as a replacement material? Ethical questions have been raised about this material’s ability to completely eliminate ivory trade, versus using it to degrade the authenticity of an object when a legal alternative is available.
More information on Rath’s work can be found in the journal Applied Materials Today.
